How fear and self-preservation are driving a cyber arms race

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.cnet.com/news/how-fear-and-self-preservation-are-driving-a-cyber-arms-race/

By Max Taves
@maxtaves
CNET News
May 2, 2015

When a man was fired from his job in Minneapolis, Minn., last May, he 
inadvertently touched off a boom in Silicon Valley.

Gregg Steinhafel, then a 35-year veteran of Target and its CEO, was shown 
the door after hackers infiltrated the retailer's computer systems, 
stealing 70 million shoppers' information and 40 million credit and debit 
card numbers. It turned out the hack might have been prevented, had the 
company not ignored warnings from its own security systems.

It happened again in December, when Amy Pascal, one of the most powerful 
women in Hollywood, was fired from her job heading up Sony Pictures after 
hackers exposed thousands of financial documents and emails revealing the 
film studio's inner secrets. The hack captured the world's attention and 
elicited criticism from customers, industry leaders and even the president 
of the United States.

Pascal's and Steinhafel's exits sent shockwaves through corporate America. 
The message was clear: Top executives will be held responsible for their 
companies' cybersecurity failings.

The result, venture capitalists say, has been a boom for cybersecurity 
startups. In ways that previous attacks on consumers never did, the 
firings have sparked a scramble for new security technology by companies 
desperate to head off the next costly, embarrassing cyberattack. And 
venture capitalists are responding, pouring unprecedented billions into a 
dizzying array of young companies and their, largely, untested products.

[...]



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